Fires in Quebec

Credit:

NASA Earth Observatory image by Jesse Allen and Robert Simmon, using Landsat data from the U.S. Geological Survey. Caption by Adam Voiland.

Since mid-June, numerous fires ignited by lightning have burned in western Quebec. The Operational Land Imager (OLI) on Landsat 8 acquired these images showing the expansion of one large fire between June 22 (bottom) and July 8 (top). Areas charred by the fire appear dark brown. Forested areas are green.

According to the Canadian Forest Service, the country has about 10 percent of the world’s forests. The total area burned varies widely from year to year, but averages about 2.3 million hectares annually. Each year over the last 25 years, about 8,300 forest fires have occurred.

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This image originally appeared on the Earth Observatory. Click here to view the full, original record.